Warfare
Galactic Warfare As far back as when the first civilizations took to the stars, interstellar warfare has been an inescapable reality that the nations of the modern age still deal with to this day. The factions of today have taken many of the lessons learned from previous conflicts to heart and have formed their own ways of waging galactic warfare that suit them best. Due to the extreme variation in ethics, cultures, and societal values between species and organizations, there are no real rules of engagement or code of conducting combat, instead, the individual nations participate in conflict in the way that they see it should be fought. Some are merciful, some are ruthless, and some are any combination of the two. They only real agreement the majority of galactic powers have agreed upon is the banning of any form of warfare that could cause a galaxy-wide apocalypse. This includes things such as the weaponization of the Flood Infection or any other uncontrollable bio weapon, and the firing of the Halo Array to name a couple. Another form of warfare that is banned is the rendering of worlds or systems uninhabitable temporarily or permanently regardless of the means used to do so, be it the destruction of stars or slagging of a planet’s surface. Of course, with no main body to enforce these “rules” someone is bound to break them eventually for the reason of either not caring, or not knowing. Regardless of these reasons, anyone who does violate these agreements is subjected to harsh and swift consequences once the war is over. Despite the vast technologies and developments of the galaxy over the years, modern galactic warfare is, for the most part, rather conventional and is divided into three types of warfare: Naval Warfare, Ground Warfare, and Covert or Special Operations Warfare. Naval Warfare Naval warfare is the first of three key types of warfare employed during conflicts. Fleets are responsible for securing sectors, ftl routes, transporting armies, supplies, and clearing out the orbit and skies of planets from enemy space forces. Almost all fleets make use of some combination of strike craft, transports, and warships that vary greatly in size and function. Naval Combat: While practically all naval engagements are limited to a max range of 150km between any given vessels or fleets, there are numerous ways in which these engagements can play out. Some fleets prefer to fight at close range, pummeling enemy ships with fire or outmaneuvering foes and hitting them in blind spots. These types of close-range engagements are known as “Knife Fights”. Any engagement that takes place at 20km apart or less is considered a Knife Fight. These types of engagements can become crowded and chaotic very quickly when large numbers of ships are present. These congested and disorderly conditions often see opposing formations merge and ships engaging each other from all angles. Vessels with short range weapons, multiple firing arcs, high durability, and or speed and maneuverability are usually the best suited for these types of engagements. While Knife Fights are a direct and upfront way to deal with the enemy, they can also be very damaging and dangerous to ships that aren’t built for slug fests. As such, some fleets prefer to fight at what is known as “Mid-Range”. Mid Range engagements occur at anywhere from 30 to 60km and offer the highest accuracy while still being safe from Knife Fighting opponents with the only immediate hostile threat being strike craft attacks. These benefits make Mid Range engagements the optimal choice for those who’s fleets mostly specialize in high-damage, low fire rate attacks. This range also allows formations and firing lines to be maintained much more easily than those in Knife Fights, while still providing good visual overview of the engagement. For some fleets though, this still isn’t enough. These fleets want to ensure maximum safety from the enemy and chose to fight at what’s called “Sniper Range”. Sniper Fights take place at distances of 80 to the 150km max and are usually done by fleets that are composed of weaker ships with long range and a small number of powerful weapons. This distance ensures complete safety from enemy fire and offers some time until even strike craft close. So long as a long-range fleet is able to maintain their distance in a Sniper Fight, unless they are fighting another long-range fleet, they will be untouchable. Orbital Defense: Orbital defense is almost universally conducted by simply placing numerous military structures of varying purpose around a planet at various distances. The main objective of these structures is simple, deter the enemy from controlling the orbit of a planet. These orbital structures come in a variety of forms. Some of the most common forms include things like turrets, mines, weapon platforms, fighter platforms, gravity well generators, starbases, shield generators, and sensor arrays. Turrets will sport almost any type of weapon used in naval combat and can also differ greatly in size. Some are single-weapon mounts meant to be deployed in large numbers while others are large, durable, arsenals able to hold their own without numerical superiority. Orbital mines are relatively simple obstacles that serve the same purpose as their ground-based counterparts. They can be cloaked or uncloaked and are usually placed in areas around a planet where an enemy fleet may be most likely to exit ftl. They can also be used as kill-zones to funnel enemy fleets into bottlenecks. While these can be devastatingly effective, they can also be easily detected and cleared by ships with the proper equipment to do so, such as most scout vessels. Weapon platforms are stations of varying sizes sporting large amounts of various weapons. They are much more durable than turrets and possess much more firepower, though they are, expectedly, used in smaller numbers. Fighter platforms are stations similar in size to weapon platforms, however, their job is to act is as space born airfields. They deploy strike craft to aid in the defense of a world and support friendly fleets. Gravity well generators are used more as a security measure from fleeing ships than defense against an attack. Still, they can be effectively used against an invading force. Gravity well generators create an artificial, high-intensity gravity field that, while not damaging enemy ships, prevents them from entering their respective form of ftl. Starbases are massive fortresses that can best described as a weapon platform mixed with a fighter platform and up scaled tenfold. These great structures are often able to take on small fleets by themselves and make excellent space born HQs and command centers. Orbital shield generators are usually gigantic structures like starbases that create a shield big enough to protect an entire planet. Sometimes rather than a single shield station, arrays of shield gates will be placed around a planet, allowing for multiple points of entry or exit. In addition, orbital shield gates are the only form of planetary defense shield that can protect against both weapon fire and the entry of unwanted vessels. This isn’t as restrictive as it sounds, however, as with all shields, these generators’ frequency can be adjusted to allow passage through only one side of the shield, both sides, or neither. Sensor arrays are stations of varying sizes that scan the surrounding gravity well or system for all incoming and outgoing ship traffic. These stations are able to detect enemy positions and movements that the defending fleet can’t and relay the info to them to help better coordinate and react. Lastly, all orbital structures, military or otherwise, are not necessarily restricted to space. These facilities can all be built and positioned within the upper atmosphere or skies above a planet, provided the faction in question has the levitation technology strong enough to do this. While possible, this practice isn't super common due to the increased cost of building in atmosphere compared to the simplicity and efficiency of building structures in space. Orbital Control: When the orbit of a planet is secured, the attacking fleet must then actually capture and subjugate the world. Normally, a fleet cannot simply bombard the planet into submission due to the inaccuracy of orbital strikes without targeting assistance from the ground. A “blind bombardment” as its called, might destroy the target, but it also might miss it completely. What’s worse is this can cause potentially irreparable damage to planetary infrastructure and environments, thus devaluing the world and defeating the purpose of capturing it. Accurate bombardment solely from orbit is also often made impossible by a planet’s cloud cover and or atmospheric conditions. In addition to natural factors, there are also artificial ways of preventing bombardment. The three main artificial ways of preventing orbital bombardment are scramblers, shield generators, and anti-orbital weapons. Scramblers are the cheapest and easiest to maintain of the three. They range in size anywhere from small devices that are carried by a few hardy soldiers to large, structure-like, machines. Scramblers work by emitting a field of static garbage that hampers the targeting systems of warships, rendering effective orbital bombardment impossible. Even if the fleet is in the atmosphere and directly above the scrambler, so long as a ship is targeting within a scrambler’s disruption field, they will be unable to hit anything. Along with their low cost, scramblers are a popular form of defense because they are easy to hide in comparison to the other two forms. The field they emit is invisible to the naked eye and many targeting scopes so it can be difficult to find the scrambler itself when its interference is detected. The main downside to scramblers is that compared to the other forms of defense, their range of coverage is significantly less. This is sometimes compensated for by using multiple scramblers, however, a large, building-sized scrambler will only be able to cover an area the size of a large city and in turn is a rather large target for enemy ground forces and aircraft if improperly defended. Scramblers also cannot be mounted on warships simply due to the fact that, while they may impair an enemy vessel’s targeting, they will also completely compromise its own vessel’s targeting as well as the targeting of any allied ships, making their use in space practically pointless. Planetary shield generators provide a super reliable form of protection against orbital bombardment. These shields vary in size, with larger shields being able to withstand more punishment and cover a wider area. A bombardment defense shield, depending on size and power, can range from being capable of covering a small field, to an entire planet. One of the main downsides to these devices is that they take a lot of power to run. A city-sized shield generator, for example, requires the power of an entire city or large military base to run it. If you scale this up to a full planetary shield, the power demands become insane, though still very possible with a strong enough power plant. In addition, unlike orbital shields, planetary shields only protect against weapons and other extremely fast-moving objects. Ships and personnel can easily pass through without issue. Anti-orbital weaponry is unique among the previous two in that it allows the planet to fight pack and potentially repel an enemy fleet. These weapons usually come in the form of massive energy-based cannons or missile silos launching guided warheads. The power of these weapons is spectacular and they are often able to completely disable or destroy whole capital ships in just a single shot or launch. Arrays of these weapons are capable of decimating entire fleets with impunity as they are unaffected by any sort of targeting inhibitors be it natural or artificial. These weapons share the same downsides as large shield generators, however, in that they require large amounts of power to run. By extension, the weapons are so large and maintenance heavy, that they are downright too dangerous to be mounted on any warship, smaller than a titan. Even then, it's still quite an undertaking to use them in space as their power requirements and waste discharges can be extremely hazardous when combined with ftl drives and ship reactor systems. Another strategy that is often unreliable when invading a properly defended planet is forming a blockade preventing any supplies from getting in. While this method may work on small colonies that are reliant on outside help, it is ineffective against developed planets. This is because such a developed world would require a questionably large number of ships in order to effectively blockade it. The number of ships required to do such a blockade would actually be enough to take the planet in question by conventional assault in a matter of days or even hours if properly coordinated. Not to mention, such a developed world would most likely be able to sustain itself regardless of outside help, making the blockade a waste of resources that would be better put to use on other fronts. A third option that is flawed, but more reliable than orbital bombardment and planetary blockades, is bombardment through air power alone. Strike craft such as fighters, bombers, and gunships are too fast, small, and maneuverable to be targeted by anti-orbital weapons and can pass through most large shield defenses, with the exception of orbital shields, unhindered. Once the craft begin attacking, however, is where the problems arise. While scramblers do not affect strike craft targeting systems, swaths of smaller, anti-air defenses of all manners can chew through unwitting fighter craft at a frightening rate, eliminating assaults completely reliant on air power. In addition, the attacking strike craft also have to contend with the defender’s own fighter craft. This can easily bog down aerial assaults and leaves the fleet with one last option, ground warfare. Ground Warfare Ground warfare is the second key part of modern conflict. Armies are responsible for taking over worlds, stations and other inhabited places, along with keeping them secure and maintaining order. Much like it’s navies, the galaxy’s armies vary wildly in size and power, however, almost all make use of some combination of ground vehicles and infantry. These infantry and vehicles are delivered to the surface of planets by transports, drop ships, some types gunships, drop pods, and even gravity lifts, unloaded directly from the host ship itself. Ground Combat: Unlike navies, the ground-based armies are able to strike with relative precision and root out enemy forces that may be hiding with the end goal, of course, being the capture of the planet. Worlds, cities, and other infrastructure are valuable to a nation’s effort. Worlds provide resources, staging areas, strongholds, and or the means to produce more material or personnel to fuel the war effort. Ground combat is significantly more varied in how it may be carried out when compared to naval combat. Additionally, while it is a rarity when it comes to navies, armies will sometimes combine tactics and strategies resulting in no one pure from of combat doctrine, but often a mixture of elements. Regardless, some of the most common forms of offense and or defensive tactics include combined arms rapid assaults, or blitzkrieg tactics, guerrilla warfare, trench warfare, linear assaults, and overwhelming swarm tactics. Combined arms, rapid assaults are one of the most popular forms of warfare conducted by modern armies. These will take the form of assaults comprising a well balanced mixture of infantry, ground vehicles, aerial units, and artillery support working cohesively to encircle, outmaneuver, and route enemy forces. This includes hitting the enemy from all sides or staying mobile and never giving them a chance to pin you down to one location. Infantry will root out enemies in close quarters, provide fire support, and escort vehicles. The ground vehicles will provide even heavier fire support to the infantry and help punch through enemy fortification, armor, and infantry formations. Aircraft will protect the ground forces from air attack, reinforce them if losses are taken, and aid in assaulting enemy positions directly. Two opposing armies engaged in these blitzkrieg tactics sometimes merge in a form of “Ground Knife Fight”. A chaotic, flowing mess of infantry, vehicles, and aircraft where close range dominance is vital. Guerrilla warfare is a popular and highly effective tactic a defender may use against a superior force of attackers. Guerrilla warfare puts emphasis of taking advantage of a defender’s familiarity with their territory and using that to exploit the enemy through ambushes, hit and run tactics, and precision strikes. This form of hit and run tactics can also be used by attackers. Harassment tactics are a form of scaled down blitzkrieg warfare that are great for drawing away a defender’s forces, testing their capabilities, and gradually wearing them down. Trench warfare is somewhat uncommon among modern armies, but does happen from time to time. Trench warfare will occur when two opposing armies are unable to best each other and the surface of a planet remains contested for a long period of time. With the attackers not backing down and the defenders holding their ground, the two sides will proceed to dig in and establish lines of control. This soon devolves into a brutal war of attrition between the two sides as they try to break each other's lines assault waves and drive their foe to surrender. This type of warfare can be brief or go on for an incredibly long time. It all depends on how well the two sides are supplied and how determined they are to win. Linear assaults are somewhat similar to combined arms rapid assaults in their directness, however, differ in that they are, as the name suggests, more linear. They usually follow a single straight line or wave of concentrated forces meant to gradually eliminate the enemy in an often slow, but through and steady pace. Combined arms may be used in these tactics and often work well with them. Overwhelming swarm tactics are not to be confused with linear assaults, though the two can sometimes go together. Swarm tactics are some of the most crude methods out there for winning a battle. Simply put, swarm tactics are conducted by throwing waves of bodies at the enemy and overwhelming them with sheer numbers. If you throw enough units at the enemy, the will eventually fall. Swarm tactics can be combined with blitzkrieg tactics as well to quickly encircle enemies. Alternatively, it can be a slow encirclement, methodically eliminating ways of escape and cutting supply routes. These tactics are also an easy way to break the stalemate of trench warfare. While not always the case, swarm tactics are notoriously synonyms with armies that employ large numbers of low quality units, callously throwing them away in meat grinders. Ground Defense: Ground defense is often just as simple as naval defense. Ground based defense frequently consist of a variety of structures and fortifications meant to provide protection to the defending army and impede the attacking army. While they’re countless types of defensive structures, their are a few that all follow a general function and form. These structures include, but are not limited to, turrets, mines, barriers, garrison bases, sensor arrays, general fortifications, and prefabricated modular structures. Turrets, much like their orbital counterparts, vary in size, power, and weaponry. They may be small, infantry carried automated or manned guns nestled in advantageous positions for dealing with troops and light vehicles or they may be large batteries mounted on the walls of fortresses or garrison bases meant to cause large amounts of damage to groups of enemies and heavier vehicles. These turrets, particularly anti-air systems, are invaluable in preventing enemy forces from simply bombing the defender into submission. Ground based mines are usually more difficult to detect and deal with than orbital mines due to their smaller nature. Normally these mines are able to be carried by common soldiers, light and heavy infantry in particular, and can be used against vehicles or infantry. These mine fields can be easily traversed or cleared, however, by troops with proper training and equipment to do so such as most light infantry. Barriers can be any artificial construct from barbed wire and sandbags to large metal or concrete walls. These are excellent in forming some kind of perimeter and physical barrier to prevent the enemies advance. In the case of the large, almost castle-like walls, they can offer vantage points for defending troops. Garrison bases are permanent complexes that can range in size from a single small specialized outpost, to titanic military strongholds the size of a super city. They can specialize in just about any role necessary such as army housing, airfields, supply bases, communication hubs, or a mix of all of them. Likewise, they may comprise all manner of facilities including communication arrays, barracks’, vehicle garages, airfields, hospitals, armories, ammo and fuel dumps, command centers, and some even training grounds or vehicle factories. This is combined with the other fortifications such as barriers, turrets, and sensor arrays. These bases serve as staging areas or hardpoints of defense with larger fortresses being considerably difficult to take or destroy. These bases may even have their own large shield generators, anti-orbital weapons, scramblers, or in the rare, extreme case of a “Super Garrison”, all three. Super Garrisons are the largest, super-city sized versions of these bases that can house up to a million troops, countless vehicles, thousands of strike craft, and a small fleet of warships including even a titan. The defenses of these Super Garrisons are also just as astronomically absurd as the amount of forces they house and help make these fortresses some of the toughest facilities in the entire galaxy. Sensor arrays serve the same role on the ground as their spaceborn variants. They scan their effective range for any potential enemy activity and relay it to defending forces. These stations help keep tabs on all goings on in and around their assigned base. These detection arrays are not infallible, however, most cloaking systems and some other specialized devices can hide from the system’s scans or at the very least, inhibit its scanning capability through interference. General fortifications are anything from a crudely dug trench, to a complex tunnel system or large defensive line of bunkers made of concrete, metal or whatever building material the faction in question favors. These don’t follow any organized guildine of construction and are completely ambiguous in their design. They are built around their environment and however it may suit them best. These are some of the easiest and lowest cost fortifications to set up, however they do take a little bit of time. These types of defenses are particularly common when factions are faced with trench warfare as simply using the environment for protection with minimal material is far more effective and practical than building expensive, powerful, permanent, or even temporary structures that may just as easily get destroyed over the course of the battle. Prefabricated modular structures are a great mix of the quality of permanent fortifications, but can be set up with the ease of general fortifications, sometimes even faster. These are mostly scaled down, simplified, and or disassembled versions of more permanent facilities such as command centers, turrets, barracks’, etc, that are deployed to the surface by transport ships, drop pods, and even gravity lifts. They are rapidly set up and can be just as quickly taken apart. Special Operations / Covert Warfare Special operations and covert warfare are the third and final element to any modern conflict. No war is one without intelligence or planning and that’s where special operations warfare comes in. Most militaries of the galaxy have special forces in some form or another. These can be anything from conventional commando troops, reminiscent of normal soldiers to more unorthodox agents and soldiers that do things a little less by the book as well as any number of vessels or vehicles for similar tasks. One way to look at special forces is through the analogy of a carpenter. The nail is the enemy, the hammer is the conventional army and the hand holding the nail in place is the special forces. In the case of a large and heavily fortified enemy force, one cannot simply hammer the nail in without holding it steady in the right position. At the same time, one cannot hammer a nail in without the hammer itself. The two must work together and are integral parts to bringing down a larger force. While it is a rather broad umbrella term, SO warfare can be conducted in a few different forms. Sabatouge, Assassination, and Intelligence gathering are just a few examples of covert warfare and all of them share one thing in common that being some form of stealth. Sabotage is the sending in of units such as commandos or infiltrators of some kind to destroy or disable a certain element of an enemy force. This element can be practically anything that is valuable to their war effort. Sabotage missions are often what make or break large invasions of heavily fortified worlds. Without teams being sent in to weaken or open up gaps in defense for an invading force, it can be impossible to take a world by conventional means. These operations are also great for destroying enemy assets when one is trying to avoid word about it getting out. Assassination is somewhat like sabatauge except instead of being targeted at an entity such as a vehicle or piece of equipment, an assassination is targeted at an individual being or group of beings. This can be a politial assassination done by a hitman or agent or the assassination of a high ranking general by an infiltraitor just to give a couple examples. Intelligence gathering is rather broad but is mostly self explanatory. It can be done through elite scouts behind enemy lines or spies within the enemy faction itself. Whatever gets info on the enemy to the opposing faction is all considered intelligence gathering.